another excited newcommer

Hello all, i am new to aquariums and octos, my friend is selling me his tank and i thought what a great pet an octo will be, so i started researching it and Ive been stuck on tonmo for a while now thanks to its abundance of knowledge. anyway I'm Ross I'm from central Pa. ( Penn state) I'm 26 and i have always been fascinated with the octopus' cammo abilities. My tank is 30 gal. and i know i cant have a larger ceph so im wondering if there is an octo that is not a dwarf but will live comfortably in a 30 gal? if not i will use it as a sump and buy a larger tank. or i can put other saltwater creatures in it. the tank is a bio cube so it has a built in filter and unsure of whatever else in there, and the plan is to buy a LR, some LS and a few crabs for the cycling process and try to build up the bacteria as strong and healthy as i can before i buy my new buddy. so thank you all for your amazing forum and kindness to newcomers, any and all info, help, input or just hellos are more than welcome.

to TONMO. Unfortunately, a 30gal is pretty much only appropriate for a dwarf, as it would be too small for a full grown larger octo like a bimac or briareus. We generally recommend 55gal+ for most octos.

ok well then i will either get a bigger tank, or research dwarfs and how big they can get, im just worried that i read somewhere they are mostly hidden in the substrate and i would like to see it and interact with it. thanks for your info!

Ok so is it possible to have enough filtration? Maybe by adding man made filters and at the same time having a very good amount of healthy mature bacteria? if not please discourage me. I deem myself a pretty smart person(by way of constantly researching and learning) and if it is possible i feel i can construct it. However my main priority is of course the cephs well being and I will definitely buy a bigger tank if anyone here thinks it is not possible to adequately filtrate a 30 gal. if modified. Oh and thanks for the advice, more to come I hope!

NO such thing as too much filtration......definitely you can have too little though!

With a second hand tank just check that it has never had copper in it, this includes meds with copper content. Cephs are fatally sensitive to copper and it is next to impossible to remove from the tank.

Maybe you should use the 30 gallon as your starter tank, then it could turn into a tank to hold live food for your octopus. If you have never taken care of a salt water tank, you should start by caring for animals that are easier than octopus. Then when you are confident about caring for the 30 gallon, you could get a larger tank for the octopus. There are a lot of interesting invertebrates that you could put in the 30 gallon like hermit crabs, shrimp or snails. I would not recommend putting a damsel fish to cycle your tank, they are fast, territorial and hard to catch (although not as hard a a six-lined wrasse ). You can cycle your tank with other animals or even a piece of shrimp from the grocery store.

How long has the biocube been running? You probably don't need live sand.

NO such thing as too much filtration......definitely you can have too little though!

With a second hand tank just check that it has never had copper in it, this includes meds with copper content. Cephs are fatally sensitive to copper and it is next to impossible to remove from the tank.

Maybe you should use the 30 gallon as your starter tank, then it could turn into a tank to hold live food for your octopus. If you have never taken care of a salt water tank, you should start by caring for animals that are easier than octopus. Then when you are confident about caring for the 30 gallon, you could get a larger tank for the octopus. There are a lot of interesting invertebrates that you could put in the 30 gallon like hermit crabs, shrimp or snails. I would not recommend putting a damsel fish to cycle your tank, they are fast, territorial and hard to catch (although not as hard a a six-lined wrasse ). You can cycle your tank with other animals or even a piece of shrimp from the grocery store.

Yeah using the 30 as a starter/learner is a good idea, thanks. plus I was also thinking of getting seahorses before I got the octo idea maybe I will do that, then I will always have ample food for the future octo with crabs!

How long has the biocube been running? You probably don't need live sand.